There are a couple of problems with trying to convert the recipe below to baker's percents. First, we don't know the weight or size of the piece of cake yeast. I did a search for cake yeast in the 1940's and found references to that form of yeast being sold by Fleischmann's, including a sketch, but I could not find any reference to weight or size. Maybe you can get in touch with Fleischmann's to see if they can tell you what a piece of cake yeast sold at retail in the 1940s weighed. The other problem with the recipe is that the flour is stated to be sifted. But we don't know if it means flour as sifted by the miller or a separate sifting at the home level.

There are a couple of problems with trying to convert the recipe below to baker's percents. First, we don't know the weight or size of the piece of cake yeast. I did a search for cake yeast in the 1940's and found references to that form of yeast being sold by Fleischmann's, including a sketch, but I could not find any reference to weight or size. Maybe you can get in touch with Fleischmann's to see if they can tell you what a piece of cake yeast sold at retail in the 1940s weighed. The other problem with the recipe is that the flour is stated to be sifted. But we don't know if it means flour as sifted by the miller or a separate sifting at the home level.

Peter

My guess would be that in the 1940's most recipes would expect sifting right before use......maybe just to sift out any bugs.

There are a couple of problems with trying to convert the recipe below to baker's percents. First, we don't know the weight or size of the piece of cake yeast. I did a search for cake yeast in the 1940's and found references to that form of yeast being sold by Fleischmann's, including a sketch, but I could not find any reference to weight or size. Maybe you can get in touch with Fleischmann's to see if they can tell you what a piece of cake yeast sold at retail in the 1940s weighed. The other problem with the recipe is that the flour is stated to be sifted. But we don't know if it means flour as sifted by the miller or a separate sifting at the home level.

Peter

Peter,

I didn't think about what weight or size the piece of cake yeast was for the recipe. Thanks for searching for cake yeast sold in the 1940's and finding references to that form of yeast being sold by Fleischmann's, including a sketch. I will get in touch with Fleischmann's to see if they can tell me what a piece of cake yeast, sold at retail in the 1940's weighed.

I sure don't know, but would think the flour would be needed to be sifted at home for that recipe. I know my mother always sifted any flour she used for anything. Did you search if AP flour needed sifted for home recipes around 1940's?

To add to that I am sure you are aware that The Food and Drug Administation (FDA) adopted the term “enriched” as the descriptive term for the addition of nutrients to flour in 1940.

just got off the phone with my mother (87 this year) and asked her what size the yeast cakes were when she was a kid. She use to eat them as candy in the 30's-40's and told me the fleishmans cakes were 2 cents each and were either 1 or 2 ounces. I thought that might help with your recipe posted on the forum. She also told me about Di Salvos bakery that her sisters husband family ran. They hand delivered Italian bread every day to their house and made dough for Di Salvos pizzeria in Kearny NJ. She said that was the only pizzeria around when she was growing up. She said all the Italians, including her mother, made Grandma's pizzas at home. Her brother owned a sheet metal company in Harrison and he made the pans for the pizzas. My mother said she never ate pizza out. I asked her about times square and she said she was there often as a teen but never ate pizza out because her mother always made it at home. She said Italians usually made that pie at home and didn't go out for pizza, thus there wasn't many places making it. Walter

just got off the phone with my mother (87 this year) and asked her what size the yeast cakes were when she was a kid. She use to eat them as candy in the 30's-40's and told me the fleishmans cakes were 2 cents each and were either 1 or 2 ounces. I thought that might help with your recipe posted on the forum. Walter

Thanks Walter for telling us that the cake yeast cubes were either 1 or 2 ounces.